


Ocean Malfunction

by supercalvin



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day At The Beach, M/M, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the group goes to the beach, Merlin brings too much sunscreen and Arthur is Poseidon's kept man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ocean Malfunction

They must have been an odd sight, Merlin thought. To be fair, weirder groups had been seen at the beach. Somehow Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Gwen, Percival, and Gwaine had managed to all fit into Percy’s truck. Now at the beach, the six of them looked stranger than Merlin had anticipated.

Gwen probably looked the most normal in her yellow sundress and pink sunhat. She walked barefoot in the sand with the basket of food.

Morgana looked like a goth queen who was taking a holiday, in her all black sheer dress, black floppy hat, and black sunglasses. She had refused to carry anything besides her own bag.

Percival looked like he was ready to bench press the entire group, in his workout tank and shorts. He had all the towels and chairs in one arm and the other was free to point out good spots to settle down.

Then there was Gwaine who had freed himself from his shirt as soon as they were in sight of the ocean. He was holding the beer, which would surprise no one.

Arthur looked like a fish out of water in his casual attire. Merlin told him he wasn't allowed to wear his work trousers to the beach, and Arthur had reminded Merlin that he wasn't as much of a prick as Merlin thought he was. Now he had a new pair of red swim shorts, probably bought the day before.

Merlin wore his blue swim shorts plus a shirt because he refused to get sunburned like he always did. He also had a huge wide brimmed sunhat. He had bought it in the ladies section (a nice older woman said it looked lovely on him) and it had a big pink bow on the side. Merlin was surprised and a little disappointed when Arthur didn't make any comments about the hat. He only stared at Merlin for a moment, an odd and almost happy expression on his face, before turning away and taking the rest of the bags out of the boot of the car. Either way, Merlin wasn't going to get sunburned. With three bottles of sunscreen in his bag, he was going to succeed.

They had decided on a perfect space of sand, not too far from the bathrooms and not too far from the water. They plopped down their things and spread out their towels

"Get my back would you?" Merlin said to Gwen as he rubbed the rest of the sunscreen into his nose.

"Of course" Gwen said as Merlin handed her the sunscreen. Despite not needing to put a lot of sunscreen on herself, Gwen was always sympathetic to Merlin's tendency to burn after ten minutes in the sun. She must know since Morgana was her girlfriend and she had the same blindingly white skin as Merlin. Now Morgana was staying under the umbrella, reading a book and looking like a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi.

“Good God, Merlin” Arthur held up his hand to his eyes, as if blinded. “I can’t see”

“Fuck off, clotpole.” Merlin said and threw sand at his best friend.

Arthur swatted the sand off himself. “Don’t forget your ears.” He said with a sly smile.

Merlin glared at Arthur “Don’t forget your nose” Merlin's threw the other bottle of sunscreen at Arthur and his dumb roman nose.

Arthur looked offended, covering his nose, but then he shrugged. “Fair play, Emrys. Fair play.”

“How are you two even friends?” Gwen muttered to herself and continued to smear the white sunscreen onto Merlin’s even whiter shoulders.

“Did I get it all?” Arthur asked, as he finished rubbing the sunscreen into his nose. He had a white streak in the crease between his cheek and nose.

“Yeah, you’re good.” Gwaine said casually. Percy covered his grin by looking threw the bag of crisps.

Arthur narrowed his eyes and carefully rubbed at his nose.

“Come on, turn around I’ll get your back.” Merlin said, not bothering to tell Arthur about the sunscreen on his face.

As Merlin squeezed out the sunscreen he noticed that Arthur had a smattering of freckles across his tanned shoulders and arms. Merlin had to remind himself that despite the fact that he and Arthur both leaned into the higher numbers on the kinsey scale, they were also best friends. Not that Merlin had thought a lot about rubbing sunscreen into his best friends broad shoulders and down into the dip of his spine. Nope. Not at all.

In the middle of the week on a summer day, the beach wasn’t as crowded as it would have been on a weekend, but there was still a fair amount of people.  Families flew kites and splashed in the waves. Kids alternated between playing in the sand and eating it. Students tanned as they laid in the sand and sipped their drinks.

After eating their sandwiches and avoiding the sand, which had somehow already invaded their towels, Arthur and Merlin decided to go into the waves. Morgana sat in the beach chair, under the umbrella’s shade and Gwen laid in the sun next to her. Gwaine and Percival were throwing a frisbee nearby.

Leaving his shirt and sunhat behind, Merlin raced Arthur into the water. The sun was hot and the cold water felt good on his skin (that despite all his work was probably going to burn anyways). As soon as they were thigh deep in the water, Arthur tackled him and they both were soaked.

“Arthur!” Merlin shrieked as his entire body was shocked by the freezing water. Arthur, the asshole, only laughed. His blond hair was partially sticking up and plastered to his forehead.

Merlin retaliated by dunking Arthur back, using the waves to his advantage. Arthur caught his ankle and they were both covered by a wave in a second. When they both came up for air, Merlin was sputtering salt water and Arthur was laughing his ass off.

“It’s on, Pendragon!” Merlin shouted.

“Catch me, Emrys!” Arthur said as he swam into the waves, away from Merlin’s tackle.

Merlin had never been very good at body surfing. The waves never seemed to want to move him forward, instead they just tumbled him into the sand. Arthur wasn’t having the best time either with the waves either though, because he kept looking at Merlin instead of keeping an eye on the waves.

About the eighth time Merlin tried to ride a wave, he finally did it. He sailed along the water, skimming along the sand when he made it back to the shallow waters. He stood up and raised it his hands in victory and let out a triumphant whoop.

Merlin looked to Arthur, hoping he saw that Merlin had managed to ride the wave, but he couldn’t find him. He waded back into the water and searched for him. Eventually he saw Arthur, but he wasn’t looking at Merlin, or the waves that were periodically hitting him.

Merlin swam out to where Arthur was chest deep in the water.

“Hey! Did you see that? I made it all the way in!” Merlin cheered and Arthur practically jumped out of the water in surprise. Arthur’s eyes were wide. “Whoa, what?” Merlin swam closer, looking around to see what Arthur had been doing.

“Um” Arthur said, his eyes flickering from Merlin to something in the water.

“Oh my God, please tell me there isn’t a shark or something.” Merlin immediately lifted his feet off the sand and flapped his hands to keep himself afloat.

This time Arthur laughed, looking less panicked. “No, you idiot.” He coughed a little and his face reddened, and not just from the sun. “I dove into that last wave...and it kind of...took more than I expected.”

“What?” Merlin asked.

“I can’t find my shorts.” Arthur said.

“What?” Merlin repeated.

Arthur glanced down and then back up. The water wasn’t clear between the swirl of waves, sand, and seaweed, but Merlin could tell that there wasn’t a sign of the bright red swim shorts Arthur had been wearing. All he could see between the waves was some skin color.

“Oh shit” Merlin said, as he tried to cover his laugh.

“This isn’t funny, Merlin!” Arthur shouted. He raised his hands to smack Merlin, but he must have thought better of it and kept them under the waves, obviously hiding himself. That only made it funnier. Merlin burst out laughing.

“Shut up and help me find them!” Arthur said. Merlin giggled so hard that he didn’t see the wave that smacked him over the head. When he came up for air, he wondered if the ocean had just smacked him in place of Arthur.

Arthur’s cheeks were as bright red as the shorts he had lost.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them.” Merlin said, laying a hand on Arthur’s shoulder before he started to search through the waves.

After ten minutes of searching, they still had not found the shorts.

“You think being bright red in the middle of the ocean would make them easier to see.” Merlin grumbled.

Arthur looked like he had resigned himself to spending the rest of his life in the ocean.

“You know it’s probably just Poseidon's way of looking at you ass. You know all those Greek gods were really into that.”

Arthur glared. “Are you saying that a god took off my shorts so I would sleep with him?”

“Isn’t that one of the myths?” Merlin asked, tapping his chin before shrugging. “Sounds like it.”

“If I wasn’t naked I would dunk you under the water right now.” Arthur threatened.

“And being naked hinders you from doing that because…?” Merlin asked, grinning.

Arthur vaguely gestured to his lack of clothes, only the top of his chest visible above the waves. “I know you have different personal bubbles than normal people, Merlin, but I think for the sanctity of our friendship we should keep the naked tumbling to couples.”

Now it was Merlin’s turn to blush bright red. Could anyone really blame him for thinking of Arthur and him tumbling into bed the same way they had tackled each other into the waves? He and Arthur were practically attached at the hip most of the time. No one knew Merlin better than Arthur. Only recently had Merlin admitted to himself that his attraction to Arthur was more than just a simple desire. When it came to Arthur, Merlin’s emotions ran deep.

“Keeping yourself all to Poseidon?” Merlin joked, “See? His plan is already working.”

“Oh fuck it.” Arthur splashed Merlin and pushed at his shoulders.

“Arthur Pendragon is Poseidon’s kept man!” Merlin shouted as Arthur tackled him. The wave was harsher than any of the others and they stayed under the water longer than expected. It took them into a spiral, and their legs tangled as they were both pushed under. Merlin gripped Arthur’s arms to keep himself centered as he skidded along to sand.

Eventually it was Arthur who pulled them back to the surface.

“Merlin! Merlin, are you okay?” Arthur clutched at Merlin’s sides, trying to keep him above the water. Merlin coughed and spluttered up some water.

“Oh, gross.” Arthur said as he pushed Merlin’s spit-water away, laughing.

Merlin rubbed his nose, feeling the salt water stinging his eyes. “Ass.” Merlin muttered. He kept his hands on Arthur’s shoulders to keep himself upright. If the moment called for Arthur to be pushed under the water again, then he was prepared.

“You okay?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah.” Merlin said. “See, our friendship is still intact. Though I’m planning your demise as we speak.”

“The same as always then.” Arthur said, a little bit of a frown at his lips instead of his grin.

“Yeah?” Merlin said, it coming out as more of a question than a statement.

Arthur stared at him for a moment. His hair was tangled and plastered to his forehead, his lips pulled tight, and eyes bright blue.

Arthur sighed. “Poseidon forgive me.” He said before he pulled Merlin through the water so that their chests pressed together, and kissed him.

In his surprise, he squawked and accidently pushed on Arthur’s shoulders. Arthur sunk beneath the water, and since he was holding Merlin’s waist, they went under. A moment later they came up, and their knees knocked together as they set their feet firmly on the sand. Arthur’s hands hadn’t moved from Merlin’s waist, and Merlin was so close he gently bumped his forehead against Arthur’s.

Arthur cleared his throat and mumbled something that might have been an apology but Merlin didn’t let him say more. He used their close proximity to his advantage and kissed Arthur, tasting the salt on his lips. Arthur kissed back enthusiastically, probably forgetting all about the missing red shorts, and pressed close to Merlin. He gripped Arthur’s arms and Arthur’s hands skimmed along Merlin’s spine.

As Arthur’s nose brushed along Merlin’s cheek and his lips pressed a soft kiss to Merlin’s upper lip, Merlin thought nothing could stop him from kissing Arthur. Unfortunately, the ocean had other ideas. Poseidon had his say, and the next wave knocked them apart.

When they situated themselves, managing not to fall over, Merlin looked up to see that Arthur’s lips were red and he was smiling. Merlin grinned at him.

“So…” Merlin said. “That happened.”

“Shut up.” Arthur pulled him close and stopped just before their lips touched. “Is this okay?” Arthur said quieter and less sure of himself than he had before.

“More than.” Merlin pressed his lips to Arthur’s cheek. “But we still need to find your shorts.”

Arthur suddenly realized he was still without shorts, “Shit.” He hastily pushed away from Merlin.

Merlin laughed. He laughed so hard Arthur had to splash him to get him to stop.

“I’ll go get your towel and you can wrap it around yourself. It will get wet, but we can buy you some shorts at one one of the shops.” Merlin pointed to the water. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Arthur nodded and let Merlin go.

Getting out of the water Merlin couldn’t help but smile. Back at the group’s spot, only Morgana and Gwen were there. Gwaine and Percy must have gone off somewhere down the beach.

“You and Arthur looked like you were having fun.” Morgana said, pulling down her sunglasses to raise a brow at him.

He was so happy he couldn’t even be bothered that they had seen the kiss. “Yeah” He grinned.

“You two are disgusting.” Morgana said, but she was smiling.

“It’s cute.” Gwen nudged Morgana. “It’s about time.” He heard her whisper.

“What are you doing with that?” Gwen asked as Merlin took Arthur’s towel and turned to go back into the water. Merlin looked to where Arthur was subtly avoiding the other people in the water.

“Um…” He bit his lip as he looked back to his friends. “Arthur lost his shorts.”

Gwen looked shocked and Morgana absolutely cracked up.

"And you had nothing to do with that?" Morgana asked with a wry grin.

He spluttered. “Not like that!”

“Sure” Morgana laughed. He ran back into the water and she yelled “Have fun!”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this [OTP prompt](http://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/124613141554/imagine-your-otp-at-the-ocean-person-a-loses-part)  
> Except maybe Merlin is not as helpful as the prompt implies...


End file.
